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Youth

STATUS: Pending

On March 28, 2019, Equality Arizona, represented by National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal, along with law professor Clifford Rosky and pro bono counsel Perkins Coie LLP, filed a federal lawsuit challenging Arizona’s anti-LGBTQ curriculum law, which bars public school students from receiving medically accurate, age-appropriate information about non-heterosexual people in their health…

Additional Civil Rights

STATUS: Amicus Brief Filed

On May 15, 2018, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed the state’s Youth Mental Health Protection Act, prohibiting state-licensed therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of a patient under 18 years old. Every leading medical and mental health organization in the country has warned that these practices do not work and…

Elders

STATUS: Pending

On July 25, 2018, Mary Walsh, age 72, and Bev Nance, age 68, a married lesbian couple, filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Missouri against St. Louis senior housing community Friendship Village Sunset Hills. The complaint alleges that Friendship Village violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating against Walsh and Nance…

Family & Relationships

STATUS: Amicus Brief Filed

A.G.’s complaint states that on January 6. 2015, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department entered A.G.’s father’s home and used a Taser on his father, who was mentally ill, because he would not stop singing in his bathroom. A.G.’s father died as a result. The California Superior Court improperly dismissed A.G.’s wrongful death claim solely…

Additional Civil Rights

STATUS: Amicus Brief Filed

In 2012, Colorado residents David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop to order a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips informed them that because of his religious beliefs, the store would not serve customers who wanted to order cakes to celebrate a same-sex couple’s wedding. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission…

Parenting

STATUS: Victory! Missouri

K.M.M. and K.E.W. were in a committed same-sex relationship and had a child through assisted reproduction using an anonymous sperm donor in 2011. They raised their son together as a family for several years. The parties separated in 2015, and K.E.W. stopped allowing K.M.M. to see their child. K.M.M. filed the original action to be…

Marriage

STATUS: Pending, Texas

In 2013, Houston mayor Annise Parker directed that same-sex spouses of city employees who were legally married in another state be afforded the same benefits as different-sex spouses of city employees. Two individuals, represented by the anti-LGBT group Texas Values, filed a lawsuit in Texas state court challenging the extension of benefits to same-sex spouses,…

Marriage

STATUS: Victory!

Marisa and Terrah Pavan were legally married in New Hampshire in 2011. The Pavans were living in Arkansas in 2015 when Terrah gave birth to their daughter. Marisa and Terrah jointly planned their daughter’s conception and arranged and paid for an anonymous sperm donor. They completed the application to receive a birth certificate at the…

Asylum & Immigration

STATUS: Pending | Louisiana

On February 8, 2017, NCLR, GLAD, and Lambda Legal filed an amicus brief arguing that Louisiana’s law requiring any foreign-born person to present a certified birth certificate in order to marry is an unconstitutional infringement on the fundamental right to marry, and requesting that the court grant a preliminary injunction against enforcement of that law. The…

Youth

STATUS: Pending | Utah

On October 21, 2016, Equality Utah and three students, represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP, filed a federal lawsuit challenging state laws that ban positive speech about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Utah public schools. The lawsuit—the first of its…